EVERYBODY responsible for marketing and developing Coventry city centre should be ashamed.

Coventry is in a great geographical position, has far more attractions to visit than nearby towns such as Leicester and Solihull, but has been allowed to fall behind in its retail and restaurant choice.

Coventry has the beautiful old and new cathedrals, fantastic transport museum, Herbert Art Gallery, and stunning old buildings such as St Mary’s Hall.

With its extremely easy access it should be a massive attraction for retailers and restaurants, yet we have seen no major building project since West Orchards was built over 20 years ago. This is a disgrace, and a very poor reflection on councillors past and present.

How has the very large area of land close to the Foleshill Road roundabout been allowed to stand empty for so long, with failed promises of regeneration? The number of cars that pass that site is phenomenal, and must be able to attract a supermarket or retail development linking to the main shopping areas on Corporation Street.

Why has the land opposite Ikea adjacent to the market been derelict for so long? Why has Cathedral Lanes been almost empty for years?

Landlords in London and Birmingham own large areas of our city centre and are allowing them to stay empty because we are off their radar. Coun Lynnette Kelly and those responsible should be pursuing these landlords, and reminding them where we are, and how attractive we could be to move to.

Previous letters have suggested listing all the shops and restaurants in Leicester and Birmingham that are not in Coventry, and actually contacting those companies, inviting and encouraging them to move to Coventry. That should be high on the list of Coun Kelly’s things to do to ‘Save our shops’ – we want to see action and improvement now.

Cornelius Sexton,

Black Prince Avenue, Coventry.

BELTS are, and for the most part, always have been a very reliable trouser anchorage. However, the goverments incessant belt tightening demands, taken literally, place the retention of our netherwear in considerable jeopardy.

The tensile strength of any belt fabric is not unlimited and the constant tightening renders any belt far less reliable than of yore.

Has any consideration been given to the plight of any poor soul suddenly rendered trouserless, albeit involuntarily? Given the current weather conditions, the health risk is very obvious.

Gentlemen of pensionable age probably never envisioned a time when they would be arrested for streaking and given the aformentioned weather, would attract little female interest anyway.

Due to the blatant greed of the power companies, many of us are faced with the stark choice of ‘heat or eat’ and the obesity problem notwithstanding, many of we poor old sods would now have to stand on the same place twice to cast a shadow. But every shroud has a silver lining and I recently resolved an emergency situation by being able to substitute a small rather rusty jubilee clip for a broken belt.

So, Mr Cameron, instead of strutting the international stage gifting countless millions of pounds to the great unwashed, how about making jubilee clip production a priority?

Brian Wayman,

Bracebridge Street,

Nuneaton.

I HAD to read Peter Stevens’ letter twice to see what the problem was with Coun George Duggins’ use of the word ‘brassic’.

When I, a young apprentice, came to Coventry in 1948 from rural Kent, because of my southern accent I was sometimes mistaken for a Cockney. This upset me because down there our parents and teachers had done their best to make sure we pronounced our words properly, unlike those living in the sound of Bow Bells who famously mangle words and have trouble with their ‘aitches’ and ‘th’s’.

It is true that while the rhyming slang word ‘brassic’ is derived from ‘boracic lint’, the most accurate phonetic spelling of how the Cockneys choose to pronounce it is in fact ‘brassic’.